Combination sub-floor and top floor



J y 1959 c. u. GRAMELSPACHER 2,394,292

' COMBINATION SUBFLOOR AND TOP FLOOR Filed March 21, 1957 6 24 CLARENCEu. sa ng E ER 6 m- NJ A i F ATTORNEYS 12,894,292 .COMBINATIONSUB-FLOORAND TOP FLOOR Clarence .U. lGramelspacher, Jasper, "Ind.,..assignor toJasper Wood Crafters, Inc., Jasper, Ind. Application March 21, 1957,Serial No. 647,577 I 9 Claims. .(Cl; 20-8) Thisinvention pertains towoodflooring and in particulartto laminated .woodflooring and morespecifically stillto flooring in the form-of a .oombinationsub-floor and.top floor.

In the laying of floors in abuilding, such as a residence structureit iscustomary to-lay sub-flooring on the joistsandthento apply the topIfiooring on top of the Sll'b'xflGOT. This arrangement is generallysatisfactory so longas .the-flooringremains tight but thereis a tendencytowork loose and'squeak after a period of-time. Further, the laying ofsub-flooring and then the subsequent laying thereon of top flooringrepresents two complete and independent operations thus-involving theexpenditure of considerable time and labor. In any case where topflooring is laid separately from the sub-flooring it is necessary tocarry out extensive finishing operations on the'floor. in order to bringthe surface .to the desired finished condition.

Having the foregoing .in mind,.the primary object of thepresentinvention is to provide a floor member to. be laid on joists. of abuilding to. form the floor ithereofpand whichmember comprises as anintegral unit both the subfloortand top .fioor.

.of on which squeaking of the floors is entirelyeliminated.

A still further. object of this inventionis the provision ofa panelmember that can be laidon'the joists of a building inaking up afloorwhich ;can be applied .to sub- .flooring and whichpanelmember issealedvand which will remain tight and squeak-proof for along period.

A furthero'bject of the present invention is the provision of a factoryconstructed floor panel having in combination subflooring and finishedtop flooring integrally secured to the sub-floor so'that themember canbe laid on the joists of .a building tomake up a complete sealed tight,floorin a single operation.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of anarrangement for laying floors in buildings such that factory finishedpanels can be employed thereby making itpossible to create a variety of.difierentfioor patterns without the great expense that accompanies thecreation of such patterns in the floor at the time it is laid.

Another object of this invention is the provision of a tongue and groovetype floor panel of substantial size whichtcan be placed directly on thejoists of a building to makeup the entire floor thickness thereof andwith the panels being of sufficient area that the floor lays up veryquickly thus eliminating a great. deal of the labor ordinarilyassociated with sucha work operation.

These and other objects and advantages will become more apparent uponreference to the accompanying drawuings in -which:

United States Patent iJFigure lis a perspective View showing, somewhatdia- 2,894,292 Patented July 14, .1959

"ice

grammatically, a floor panel according to my invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view similar to Figure 1 but showing the topand intermediate panels cutback to show the manner in which the threethicknesses of the panelof Figure 1 inter-fit.

Figure 3 is a sectional view through the floor portion of a buildingshowing the joistsand the manner in which a panel according to thepresent invention lays up thereon.

Figure 4 is a perspective view showing the manner in which the presentinvention could be adapted for forming a two-ply flooring panel tobelaid on a conventionalsubfloor;

Figure 5 is a view like Figure 1 but shows the .top floor in the form ofstrips rather than blocks;

Figure 6 isa plan viewshowing a panel somewhat like that illustrated inFigure 1 except with the individual blocks of thepanel being formed ofsmall stripsto form a parquet surface efiect.

Figure 7 is a sectional view indicated byline 77 of Figure 1 showingtheindividual plies 'of the surfaae sections of the floor panel.

Referring tothe. drawings somewhat more in detail the floorpanelillustrated in Figure 1 comprises a bottom section 10, an intermediatesection 12, and a top section 14. Bottom section 10 is of ply-wood as isalso intermediate sectionlZ. The top section14 is also-composed ofplywood but .is in the form. of individual rectangular blocks 16 havinga hard wood upper facing suitable .-for a floor surface and finishedsmooth andwith adja cent blocks 16 laid, preferably, so that they arerespectivelyat right angles. 9

.It is preferred that the three layers be ofthe same overalldimensionsandthis enablesthe top and bottom layers to be arranged inexact vertical alignment with each 'otherwhile the intermediate layer orsection 12 .is off-set longitudinally and laterally thereby forming vatongue on two adjacent edges of the panel in andaa corresponding grooveon the othertwo adjacent edges.

The plies making .upwthe sections Ill, .12 and 14. may vary considerablyas to the make up but a preferred arrangement is .to have thebottom-mostply of section 10 ofsubstantial thickness and to have thetop-most ply Figure 7 which is asection through one edge of. panel ofFigure 1 in somewhat enlarged scale. This view also showsfthe groove 18that extends about two edgesof the panel and which may advantageously besomewhat tapered on .the top to. receive the'tongue of the next adjacentpanel which may. similarly besomewhat tapered onthe top surface to 1match the tapered surface of the tongue. V

As will be seen in Figure 2 the three sections of floor panels areconnected by. conventional gluing methods by applying an adhesive 20between the layers and'then pressing them together and permitting the.adhesive to set.

Thepanel of Figure lis made up of three sectionsj but it will be evidentthat the panel could consist of merely twosections as shown in Figure 4and be laid 'on subfiooring 22. The backing of the panel is indicated itat :24 and comprises plywood and the topxfloorat26 may ;be madejupofpanels of any.suitablewtyperandzthese may be plywoodalsoor mayconsistofiindividual strips 1. of .flooring wood asillustrated. As inthe ease; .otvthe panel of'Figure 1 panels 24 and 26 are preferably setup to provide a tongue and groove effect for interlocking the adjacentpanels and provide for a sealing overlap therebetween.

Figure illustrates a panel like Figure'l except the top floor 28 thereofis in the form of strips and which strips may be the entire thickness ofthe top section of the panel, or may comprise veneer strips forming thetop ply of the plywood making up the top section of the panel.

Figure 6 shows a still further modified panel arrangement in which thetop face of the panel presents a parquet surface effect by means ofparquet blocks 30' arranged on a backing similar to the previouslydescribed panel arrangements.

A feature of the present invention resides in the fact that a panel ofsubstantial size when glued up in the manner described and illustrated,tends to warp so as to be concave upwardly. This effect will be noted inFigures 1 and 5 and in Figure 3 it will be seen how the panel appearswhen put in place on the floor but before it is nailed to the joists.

The showing in Figure 3 illustrates a plurality of ad- 'jacent joists 31and at the extreme right side of the view is the left edge of a panel 32fixed in place on the joists. Leftwardly of panel 32 is a panel 34receiving in its groove '36 the tongue at the left edge of panel 32. It

will be noted that panel 34 curves upwardly before being fixed inposition against the joists. When the panel 34 is pulled down into theposition indicated by the dotdash outline 38 it will be flat and pressagainst the joists from one edge to the other thereby eliminatingsqueaking and cracking of the flooring. The panels may be nailed inplace or there may be an adhesive applied between the joists and thepanels or both may be employed in order to arrive at a particularlypermanent and tight structure.

It will be evident that the floor panels could be laid on sub-flooringif so desired with the advantage obtaining that all nails in the panelscould be invisible with a suitable adhesive connecting the panels to thesub-flooring.

I claim:

'1. In a floor panel; a plywood surface layer having its upper ply ofsubstantial thickness and of hardwood, a core layer applied to the backof said surface layer and off-set therefrom in two directions andadhesively connected to the top layer, and a backing layer in alignmentwith the top layer and adhesively bonded to the back of said core layerwhereby integral tongues and grooves are formed about the panel, andsaid panel being characterized in that it is at least slightly concaveup- '-wardly whereby it bears against joists on which it is laid up withsufiicient pressure to prevent squeaking and cracking.

2. In a floor panel; a plywood surface layer having its upper ply ofsubstantial thickness and of hardwood, a core layer applied to the backof said surface layer andofiset therefrom in two directions andadhesively connected to the top layer, and a backing layer in alignmentwith the top layer whereby integral tongues and grooves are formed aboutthe panel, and said panelbeing characterized in'that it is at leastslightly concave upwardly where by it bears against joists on which itis laid up with sulficient pressure to prevent squeaking and cracking,the

.said upper ply of the top layer being made up of blocks with the grainof adjacent blocks at respectively right angles to each other.

3. In a floor panel; a plywood surface layer having its upper ply ofsubstantial thickness and of hardwood, a core layer applied to the backof said surface layer and off-set therefrom in two directions andadhesively connected to the top layer, and a backing layer in alignmentwith the top layer whereby integral tongues and grooves are formed aboutthe panel, and said panel being characterized in that -it is atleastslightly concave upwardly whereby it bears against joists on which it islaid up with sufficient pressure the upper layer of the panel beingformed of strips extending the length of the panel.

4. In a floor panel; a plywood surface layer having its upper ply ofsubstantial thickness and of hardwood, a core layer applied to the backof said surface layer and off-set therefrom in two directions andadhesively connected to the top layer, and a backing layer in alignmentwith the top layer and adhesively bonded to the back of said core layerwhereby integral tongues and grooves are formed about the panel, andsaid panel being characterized in that it is at least slightly concaveupwardly whereby it bears against joists on which it is laid up withsulficient pressure to prevent squeaking and cracking, at least the toplayer of the upper layer of the panel being formed of narrow strips laidup in a block pattern.

5. In a floor panel; a plywood surface layer having its upper ply ofsubstantial thickness and of hardwood, a core layer applied to the backof said surface layer and off-set therefrom in two directions andadhesively connected to the top layer, and a backing layer in alignmentwith the top layer and adhesively bonded to the back of said core layerwhereby integral tongues and grooves are formed about the panel, andsaid panel being characterized in that it is at least slightly concaveupwardly whereby it 'bears against joists on which it is laid up withsuflicient pressure to prevent squeaking and cracking, at least the toplayer of the upper layer of the panel being formed of narrow strips laidup in parquet pattern.

6. In a building structure; spaced floor joists, and floor panels laidup on the floor joists and forming the floor, said panels being ofsubstantial size and comprising'a plurality of layers of plywodintegrally bonded together, and said panels being characterized in beingat least slightly concave upwardly before being fixed to the joists.

7. In a building structure; spaced floor joists, and floor panels laidup on the [floor joists and forming the floor, said panels being ofsubstantial size and comprising a plurality of layers of plywoodintegrally bonded together, and said panel being characterized in beingat least slightly'concave upwardly before being fixed to the joists,said panels having inter-engaging tongues andgrooves about the edges.

8. In a building structure; spaced floor joists, and floor panels laidup on the floor joists and forming the floor, said panels being ofsubstantial size and comprising a plurality of layers of plywoodintegrally bonded together, and said panel being characterized in beingat least slightly concave upwardly before being fixed to the joists,said panels having a surface ply of substantial thickness and ofhardwood whereby the panel can be finished in a conventional mannerafter being laid up on the joists.

9. A method of flooring a building having joists which comprise;preparing floor panels of a substantial area so that the panels willspan a plurality of spaces between the joists, forming said panels so asto be concave upwardly, and fixing the panels to the joists so that thepanels areflat and thus bear down on the joists between the edges of thepanels thereby preventing squeaking and cracking of the floor, saidmethod also including the step of overlaping the edges of panels wherebythe panels are sealingly inter-fitted.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS187,502 Banker Feb. 20, 1877 1,477,813 Daniels Dec. 18, 1923 1,520,313Skinner Dec. 23, 1924 2,253,943 Rice Aug. 26, 1941 2,257,048 FulbrightSept. 23, 1941 FOREIGN PATENTS 284,205 Great Britain June 28, 1928485,823 Canada Aug. 19, 1952

